I don't know why, but for a bunch of companies involved in gaming, 2009 looks like a gloomy year. Oh, yeah, I know why - we're in the middle of a crisis! No, don't think about the whole economic freeze, because it's not about that - despite the great games released in 2008, the gaming industry overall is facing a crisis. The good part is that, while PC gaming seems to go through rough times, consoles are doing great, and Sony expects 2009 to be a good year, as its PlayStation business is trying to "finally make a profit."

While the PlayStation is a great console, Sony spent a lot of money lately trying to push forward a bunch of games and services, especially Home, so that explains why the priority of the business is to "finally make a profit," as President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, David Reeves says.

"The most important thing for us as a company in the very short term is for us to start making money. This is a pledge that was made last March and is something that we are still very much on target to achieve. Once we have achieved this, I think it will be a very exciting time for PlayStation. "Once we have alleviated that specific pressure, we can move forward at a rate of knots," said Reeves, quoted by the official PlayStation UK website.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
Even more, Sony will release its music and video download service Vidzone, for the PlayStation Network later this year, although it was initially announced for Q1 2009.

"2009 promises to be a very exciting year for PS3, with blockbuster titles such as Heavy Rain and Killzone 2 coming out, whilst we have the music and video download service becoming available towards the end of the year. We have built our reputation over the years on great entertainment, and innovation and 2009 will be a prime example of PlayStation at its very best," concluded Reeves.

I am not too old yet, but I must say I had my share of dealing with frustration more than just a few times so far. I usually end up solving my problems without getting too nervous, only that last time I ended up hitting my couch, and injuring my leg. It would have been better to be able to hit the website that made me hit the poor couch, but that's not possible, obviously. Anyway, even when a game ran with problems(I don't have to remind you how does it feels to get corrupted save games, do I?), I never even thought about settings something ablaze, but...

...not everyone is dealing with frustration the way I do, so I had my share of laughing today when reading that "South Korean police have arrested a teenager for setting fire to a local warehouse over unhappiness at his poor performance at computer games." Oh, my, I guess he should get a job, earn some money, and then pay for some professional game training, but he won't be able to do that anytime soon, since he's in custody now.
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
What we know is that the anonymous 15-year-old confessed to the police that he didn't plan the arson attack on the warehouse, and this was simply a short-term release of its anger caused by the fact that "his computer games did not go well" at an Internet cafe on the first floor of the building where the warehouse was also located.

According to Yonhap news agency, the Saturday evening fire lit the sky in Chuncheon, about 50 miles east of Seoul, causing damage estimated at 4 million won ($A4,300). So much for dealing with frustration... I guess those owners of the Internet cafe should think about opening a body building or boxing hall next door, to help gamers deal with their frustration!

A few days before moving from 2008 to 2009, we discussed about the game of the year 08, as seen on GameSpot. Now, we'll leave those aside and move to another well known gaming site that just made public the final results of its own "game of the year 08" rankings - GameSpy.

To be honest, I didn't manage to taste at least half of the games in the list below, but I've heard a lot about all of them, from various media sources and fellow gamers alike, and I must confess that the winner made me extremely happy - justice has been done!

I know a "worst of 08" would also be a very interesting games top to see, and maybe we'll do one of our own, but until then, let's see the overall games of the year, as they came out on GameSpy, shall we?
<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->
Overall Game of the Year
Fallout 3 (PC/360/PS3)


Overall Top 10 Games of the Year

1. Fallout 3 (PC/360/PS3)
2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
3. Left 4 Dead (PC/360)
4. Gears of War 2 (360)
5. LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
6. Grand Theft Auto IV (PC/360/PS3)
7. Rock Band 2 (360/PS3)
8. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (PC)
9. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
10. Professor Layton and the Curious Village (NDS)

Sweet! Now, as usual, here's my complaint - I don't think Left 4 Dead is one of the best games of the year 08, and Metal Gear Solid 4 would deserve a better place. That's for me, so... what about your opinion regarding this last game of the year 08 top?